Latest Entries »

Pulling up in front of Malone Mills’ new home in Brentwood, I almost feel sorry for her. Tucked away up a long and winding canyon road, the house’s facade borders the street closely and is barrack-like in its simplicity – almost ominous. One would think that a cast off from society lived here, someone who didn’t like the world. High up and narrow windows with shutters half way tilted run along the top of the wall near the gutters. I knew Malone Mills better, though, than to judge the book of her house by its cover. Although I had only met her three times (and of course we are friends on Facebook), I already knew that nothing about Malone Mills is what it appears to be. She herself is cloaked in an air of mystery, colored by the timeless. Her pale eyes are nearly colorless with only a drop of…

Eve Brandstein’s theme for this evening of Poetry ‘N Motion was “Fuck Me in the Heart.”
She has her reasons, I’m sure.
For me, it was an opportunity to speak to Life as our greatest lover, who does sometimes seem to do just that.

last fight

please pick a rope you can hang by:

be it slender or silky or rough

please tie the rope in a lovely knot

say all of the reasons you’ve never forgot

tie it up tight and let it out loose

and fashion it brightly –

your very own noose

please pick a hook that is gleaming and sharp

one that will put out your internal spark

pick a slightly high note

for the scream that will come

from your throat as your heart beats

– a rum a rum tum

pick a tune in the background

– use the war drum

now mutter an idiom puts all to rest

whatever you wonder now ponder the chest

of the treasure you once were kept in but forgot

like the kernel of sand making pearls in your shell

the world is your oyster

your oyster’s in hell

now get in the ring

slug it out with your fighter

but wait for the ding

till you face your igniter

and your referree who will call as he sees ’em

and tease them and bribe them

so they work for free

and when the first whistle is lifted to lip

throw punches in bunches

thrust fast from the hip

hold on tight

clear your throat,

spit your blood in the cup

let it rip and break wind

towards the suits in the pit

prepare for the trip

punch by punch

bit by bit

now duck left and feign right’s

what i say to you

do a dance with your foil

and shuffle the coil,

as all mortals do

*******

While on the Massachusetts island of Nantucket this fall, I was pondering the true meaning of “home,” and what composes the “I,” while hitchhiking under the stars late one night. On the previous night I had not been picked up and ended up walking four hours to get to Siaconset, out on the Milestone Road. On this night a young man, about 21 years old, picked me up. It turned out he was the son of an old friend whom I hadn’t seen in 25 years. This boy poured his small town island heart out to me. We talked and drove to the edge of the cliff in ‘Sconset, where my favorite lighthouse stood in the solitary dark. A local paper had carried an article that week, about a man who had fallen over the edge of his boat and drowned. The last sentence of the article had said, in complete conjecture , “It is presumed that he went up on the deck to relieve himself.” These are the thoughts I carried with me when I wrote “Towards the Lighthouse.”

Eating wiggly sunny side up (what else?) eggs in front of the Figaro Cafe, Rick Shapiro drinks $18 worth of espresso and coffees and smokes a pack of cigarettes, his hands shaking the egg on the fork, while we turn over the earth together, Summer, 2011.

It goes like this:

Me: I’m so happy to embark on our friend-ship. You can be the captain, and I’ll be the first mate.

Rick: I don’t want to be the first mate. I want to be the stowaway.

Me: And I’ll be the rat catcher.

Rick: Yeah…

Me: You’ll be hiding with your eye peeking out of a hole in a cabinet on the floor below deck, and I’ll come in with my rat traps and open the trap door…

Rick: And I’ll say “Where is this plane taking off to?” or “Are we going to Brazil?”

Sea came into my life at a critical stage, when I was possibly at the most fragmented, frightened and compromised place I have ever been. The darkest night of the soul. I can trace the light coming back into my view to that exact day that she turned up.

Her rigorous commitment to the truth, in all of its shades and complex simplicity, kept bringing me back to earth when I was lost. Her love and coaching felt like it was creating new neural pathways in my brain, such that once I had received the healing, I was certainly changed forever. There was no going back. During the time that Sea and I were working together closely, the outer play of my life transformed as the inner metamorphosis continued. I navigated the toughest decisions and situations of my life so far in those few months, and Sea was my river guide, helping me find the warrior inside of me, as well as the grace and the laughter. Yes. There was SO much laughter. There is quite literally nobody like Sea Glassman. I know it sounds dramatic, but I feel like I owe my life to her.

Sea is bursting at the seams with wisdom, intuition and creativity. It takes courage to do the work. I would recommend Sea to anyone who is brave enough to live life as the fullest version of your Self.

“SEA!!! Thank you SO much for what you have imparted to me in class today, and leading up to today! I honor your completecommitment to your teaching of Soul Emergence in Acting. What aparadigmshift. You teach the path and the tools to being what I have always dreamed of: Completelyfreeasanactor,amedium,aBeing…. My utter, deepest thank yous to you. You deserve Blessings upon Blessings.”

SEA seestheheartofone‘sjourney & illuminatesthesoul‘semergence! She is gifted & guidedbymeansconnectedtothecore. When you work with her, you will know instantly, you were supposed to! It’s just one of those magic things – that when you meet, you feel so very very lucky!

THANK YOU SEA for entering my path!!!!!!”

April Hava Shenkman, Performance Artist, Writer

“I was pleasantly surprised by the way in which we tackled the material. The part of the journey that stands out in my mind the most is when you had me do the word- breath exercise which allowed the words to fully drop into my body while my mind was relaxed.

On the sub-conscious level I’m sure things are/”magic” isgoingonthatIconsciouslycan‘tcomprehend. Thank you for sharing that time with me and bringing your divineenergy into the space.”

Theron Cook, Actor

A Full explanation of the work by one actress:

“Since studying one-on-one with Sea Glassman I’ve been on a steeper learning curve than I can remember… Because of my background in a spiritual practice, I felt that I could only get back into acting, my great passion, if I could find acoachwhowouldcombineasensitivitytothesoul,mysoul,everybody‘ssoul,theworld‘ssoul,withthisgreatformofexpression: Acting!

Then she does about six weeks, in my case of One-on-One work, (which I highly recommend, so you get all of her for yourself, in which she prepares you to get to zero! The ‘cleaning the slate’ work, ‘coming to neutral’, that we know from acting training, well, Sea goes back even further than that. She begins before zero. She believes in order for your bedrock, your foundation as an actor to be fertile and solid, you can not just begin where you are at now. No, youfirsthavetohealthatwhichisblockingyou. Westartedchippingawayattheblocksthatstoodbetweenmyselfandmycleanslate, my open road, my vast sky of possibilities as an actress. I had several blocks. You name it: A germanic hook (my dad’s German), a load of doubt, severe resistance, the urge to look pretty (!), and the need to control. All masking the big one: Fear. Phew.

… with Sea’s incredibly, and I mean INCREDIBLYpatientandgentleguidance, before, during and in between our weekly session, (and sometimes longer when the resistance/fear was too great to continue) I made it all the way to my clean slate and to beginningthematerial,whichnow,sincewehavedoneallthisintensepreparation,seemsratherbreeze–like. Sortoflikeareward.

… duetoSea‘suniquetechniquesandexercises,Iamdoingmybestwork. I had several experiences in my past acting training in which the performances I delivered came through me from ‘that’ place that is magic. Those moments which you live for as an actor, I guess. And my problem was, I did not know how I had done it. And I did not know how to do it again and again and again. So, I knew THIS is what Ineededacoachfor. ToteachmehowtodothemagicthatimpactsothersandmakesmyselffeellikeI‘vejustbeentouchedbyGod.

In the past, in acting class, I felt sort of left to my own wits to figure it out. Not with Sea. She’ll guide you DIRECTLY. She‘llgiveyoutheperfecttoolsforfindingTHEPRESENTMOMENT,orshe‘llgiveyouabreathingexercise,orwhatever,butshewillguideyoutoyourharvest. The other thing about Sea Glassman is: She does not believe in brutalizing her students. If there is ablock,great,itgiveshersomethingtoworkwithtogettothegold,that‘showsheseesit,andtheresultsareAMAZING. It‘salittlebitlikeAlchemy. Andthename “mysteryschool‘ iswellchosenforheractingschool.

Alive! This is one of the side effects that you may experience when you study with Sea. Yoursenseofbeinginthemoment,beingpresent,knowingyourself,andfeelingintenselypassionatelyALIVE,yes,maywellbenoticed. Youmayalsofindyourselfconnectingmorewithothers. Inshort,youarehealing!

I am immensely grateful that someone such as Sea exists. That she exists here and that she has the vision of creating an acting school that will make a mark in the industry, as it will be a place from where artistswillcomeforththatarecomingfromaplaceofdeepintegrationwiththeirwholeselveswhentheyperform. Iamproudtobeoneofherstudents.

Well equipped with meditative and breathing preparation, and character work, which I have not even mentioned here, but which sheteachessoorganically,andstraighttothepoint,sopotently,thatitclothesthepreparedactorwhoisnowreadytoenteranyauditionspace,anystage,andreadoppositethemostintimidatingofpartners… becausewhenyouknowyourSelfandhaveyourownsoulasafoundationtobuildon,youknowinnatelythatyouareagifttothosewhocomeyourway. Andfromthatplaceofbeingness,fromthatsigh,comesexpansion,connection,gratitudeandacelebrationofthearts. And this, I guess, is what this is all about. The path that we are on. Oh, one last thing. WithSea,theactingjourneydoesbecomeaboutthejourney,nottheOscarattheendofit. AndthatputsyoubackintoaplacefromwhichyoucanENJOYitall……

Sea Glassman is a gift who appeared in my life at the perfect time. Thiskindofserendipityispartofwhosheis. Seeminglymagically,yetfirmlygroundedinrealityandpracticality,Sea‘sspiritualcoachingpowerfullyandcompassionatelygavemeinsightsdirectlyintomysoul. Almost immediately, she helped me see a major emotional block that’s been restricting me for more than half of my life. Then she helped me open that block and experienceafreeflowofmyenergy,creativity,andjoy. Ifyou‘reopentohavingrealAngelsinyourlife, Sea Glassman is open to helping you live your highest dreams.

Kent Corbell, Producer, Designer

WRITER RECOMMENDATION:

SYD RUSHING, Writer’s Boot Camp Graduation Speech

“……..Soul Writing. With my ten page animation sampler she reiterated, “You need a rewrite. ” I said “sure, I’ll do a component rewrite, a craft rewrite and a — –” She whispered hard into my stubbornness, “Youneedtodoaspiritualrewrite.” “Whew!” All I could think of was, “this chic is deep!” “Okay. I’ll do a spiritual rewrite.” WHAT’S a spiritual rewrite? Like a spiritual boomerang those words zapped me into the bottom rack of my spinal chord, harpooned into my heart and came out somewhere on the other end of epiphany for the soul. Shesaid, “Whatdoesyoursoulneedtosay?Becauseyoursoulneedstobeoneverypageofthisscript. Gothroughandputyoursouloneverypage.”

Somethinghappenedonaprofoundandrevolutionarylevel. Istoppedlisteningandadheringtotherhythmofanunseen,shamelesssoulfultruth. Iclosedmyearstotheparadeofthumpingvoices. Robert McKee, Linda Seger, Syd Field, the new guru flavor of the month, GET OUT OF MY HEAD!! ThenIbeganreadingtheGreenlightScriptsforWBC,helpingmyfellowWBCwriters150percentwiththeirprojectsandlisteningtotheebbandsoulofmyownuniquewriter‘svoice. Aturningpointbegan.

Fromhelpingothersunselfishly,thelearningcurvewasdeepened. I could now write a half decent premise line and spot a conceitful project a thousand kilometers away. Life was good. Ultimately, it has to be called Soul Writing because we give endless years of dedication not knowing where it will all end up.

Recommendation to Sea Glassman’s “Soul Emergence: The Actor’s Process as Spiritual Path,” A Mystery School of Acting

A personal reflection by student Elisa Noemí, September 28, 2011

Before, I lived in the ‘not-now, later’…in the past, in the pushed away future, in fantasy, in fear. Before, I lived in my head and my head wore a crown of gaudy gold too small for my skull, too small for my soul, it gave me a headache.

Now, I am beginning anew with each memory, with each breath. I am beginning, I am a beginner. I am rebuilding vocabulary, I am rewriting my life, retelling the stories, allowing my stories to change and my self to be seen. In the mirror. In your eyes. I will not look away. See me, do you see me? Help you help me to be seen. To see. Let me see you. I am new, every encounter, anew. I am excited to meet you. I am daring to try. I am open to what you have to teach me. I am reaching out of this box. I am unpacking the box my creativity was stuck with in. I am breaking it down, taking it apart, looking at the pieces and building new foundations. I am grounded in breath. I am grounded in tools and techniques, available at my fingertips, capable at my will.

Now, in the words of another miracle teacher, “I know that the unknown is known to me.”

In between Before and Now, I was aware enof to notice the negativity weighing me down heavy and cold, I was aware enof to notice deep in my bones that these fears were not me, and that they were holding me back from reaching my great potential.

This is not a new thought: I truly believe that we Humans are all capable of more than most of us are aware of. We have tremendous potential and ability to exact our dreams. I was using up most of my forces of discipline and determination towards self-destruction, rather than towards devotion and creativity.
There are many spiritual leaders pushing Humanity towards Possibility Consciousness, and Sea Glassman is a teacher of schools of liberation. It is revolutionary that her work reaches towards Actors, because we actors have tremendous potential to dig deep into the core of (our own) humanity and truly inspire the world.

(thunder just boomed from the heavens as I wrote that last sentence!_Although it is not raining…not here, not yet!)

I sought out Sea because I was on a quest to save my own life by following the stirrings of my passion for performance. The description of her work spoke to me deeply, (flash of lightning in the sky) so deep it was nearly unrecognizable (low long rumble of thunder). I chose to dare, to trust the whispered “Yes….Yesssss…Yes!” that pulled me towards her teachings like the tide. Once in the water, that whisper (thunder again!) became louder and stronger and more pronounced, along with the freeing of my own unique voice.

This is not to say it was all easy. And when I write in the past tense, it is only for story-telling purposes. Really, all that I write right now, it true in the now: as I site by the window, watching the gry sky light, rumble and roar. Still no rain, not here, not yet…

(thunder) The gift of working with Sea is that the work is long-lasting. The home-work unfolds, and I the student, become more and more capable of self-teaching, self-directing. (lightning flash…calm thunder roll) It is the work of a Life Time, for the artist who dares to live Actively in each moment of breath, of Life, for the person who is willing to dive deep into the sea of their own self, to discover colorful fishes and coral and face demons, darkness and depths…and with new eyes and strong strides, swim past illusions to perceive (thunder) the unknown anew: with wonder, with excitement, with awe!

Sea is a teacher, and she practices what she preaches. She lights up the space with her present presence, her commitment. It’s contagious. Its liberating. By actively doing away with limitation stories, Sea guides her student towards new scripts. (My cat just crawled into my lap) She teaches that every moment is alive and I can be too – if I choose to live, if I choose to say Yes – the windows of opportunity open in natural time, like a rose, (cat went off in search of something new) revealing layers upon layers, windows to doors and doors within doors.

But we have to do the work! I have to do the work. I am doing the work, which enables me to write these words, now. Picasso said, “Inspiration exists, but it finds you working.” By doing this work, I now have tools and techniques to notice and name my personal oppressors, meet my resistance with resilience, and set out on my own yellow brick road. The path is before me, and my eyes are closed, but I can see. A Guatemalan poet wrote, “Caminante, no hay camino, se hace el camino al andar.” Which is to say, traveler, there is no path, it is made in the walking. So, like Dr. Seuss urges, “When you step, step with care and great tact, and remember that life’s a great balancing act…And will you succeed? Yes! You will, indeed! (98 and ¾% guaranteed).”

I chose to step out on a limb, and trust Sea, and trust Me. I would highly recommend working with Sea, to anyone really willing to let go of the leash you are bound to, or the noose you are hung by, or the crutch or the handcuffs or the blindfold, or whatever is binding you. Whoever you are, if you are yearning to meet and embrace and liberate your own soul, if you are ready to meet the mirror and the world with bravery and authenticity, work with Sea. It is not easy. (the rain has arrived in sprinkles) There will be many voices trying to hold you back or slow you down. Work with Sea will hold a microphone to these voices so as to transcribe their messages. With keen listening skills, it will be revealed that those voices inside my head or your head are really just that – and not to be trusted. As those oppressive voices are acknowledged and put in their place, space within you will be liberated and the more encouraging, expansive, ethereal voices that support you on your way will be given more and more chances to speak and be heard. Dare to listen. Dare to Speak, speak and be free. Commit yourself. I am talking to you and I am talking to me. Do the work. Inspiration will find you.

(the thunder has hushed, rain has passed, even drops on the cement have vanished. the trees are all the greener cuz the sky is grey. on the horizon, peaks of blue blend between the clouds. the wind is strong and fresh as fall…)